“How?” she questions, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s actually a little curious.
“I'm the property manager at the complex I’m living in now. I could use another bi-lingual leasing consultant.”
Closure, you idiot. Closure. Stop making a fool of yourself.
“Where are you living now? Did you move?”
“Mmhmm. I went back to Miami.”
“Why?”
I hitch a shoulder. “Once I quit, there wasn’t any point in me being here.”
Benni looks at me with this face and sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, carving a teeny smile on my lips. “What?”
“Nothing,” she shakes her head, “I’m just still…”
“Still what?” I hedge, my mind almost blowing through my head as she laces our fingers together.
“I still can’t believe you’re sitting here right now.”
This.
This right here. Having her close, feeling her touch—I’ve missed this so damn much. It takes an immense amount of self-control not to flip the table and pull her into my arms.
“I told you, I had to come see you. I’ve been missing you, tearing myself up about how everything went down and how you were probably hurting. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Benni, I swear it.”
And then she really blows my mind when she follows that with, “I’ve missed you too…”
“You have?”
She nods, that plump lip caught between her teeth again, taunting the hell out of me. “Every day.”
Silence. Only this time, there’s nothing tense about it. My chest feels like it’s going to explode, a full, megawatt smile splitting my face in two.
She’s missed me too.
“Will you let me wait for you then?” Ballsy as fuck, I know, but I couldn’t hold back. The minute she said those four little words, I threw closure out the proverbial window and opened up the doorway of endless possibilities.
“Andrés, c’mon...don’t be nuts,” is what she tries throwing at me, but I’m not having it.
Not when we’ve gotten this far.
Not when I didn’t think we could’ve gotten this far.
“How is it nuts? You’re getting out in five months, baby. Five. Release day will be here before you know it,” I toss back, bringing her hands up to my lips.
She’s silent for a beat, regarding me with a keen eye. More still when I set a kiss to her knuckles.
“For the record,” she starts, cheeks heating all over again. “I like bebé better.”
“So, does that mean I finally get to have you?” Please, God, do not play with my emotions right now.
Feels like I’m on cloud-fucking-nine, and she hasn’t even given me a firm answer yet.
“We’ll see what happens over the next few months. A lot can change.”
“Nothing,” I pull her closer, close enough that I can almost taste the sweetness of her lips, “And I mean nothing is going to change. If I have to come back here every weekend to prove it to you, I will. I wanted you then, and I still want you now—for me, and only me.”
Pulling her hands free from my grip, she takes my face in her hands and sets a chaste kiss to my lips. “I’m pretty sure you’ve had me all along.”
♫ It’s All Right - Sam Cooke
Five months later: Release day
If you had asked me a year ago whether or not I’d be walking out of here early, I would’ve told you no. I was more than positive I’d be serving my full, seven-year sentence when it felt like everything I did to work toward early release was never enough. But then it finally happened—I got my wish, what I’d worked so hard for, and it was during the same time Andrés came into my life. I’d never been one who believed in the saying, “Everything happens for a reason,” but I do now—because it’s true.
Everything happens for a fucking reason.
Ángel, my arrest, being in prison, Andrés—all of it was with reason, and while a lot of it was beyond unpleasant, they were life lessons that helped me grow into the woman who’s getting to walk free today.
Today.
CO Walker already informed me he’d be taking me down to discharge in half an hour.
This is it. Thirty more minutes, and I’ll be walking out of those doors with Andrés, never once looking back again, only forward. To answer the obvious for you—yes, Andrés and I made it through the last five months. Between calls and bi-monthly visits, it was easy to fall into a new “routine” of sorts and build up an actual legal and legitimate relationship now that he’s no longer a CO. He made sure I had enough money in my account, too, so I could check in with Noely and Ma. I wish I had better news on that front, but as you probably know, cancer is an aggressive beast, and without the medication she needed, it’s pretty much eaten her alive. Her time is coming, and quite soon, unfortunately.
All the more reason to be thankful I’m getting out of here.
Even if it’s one last time, at least I’ll get to see her before she takes her final breath and finds peace on the other side.
Ambling into my cell for the last time, I take in the small space that’s been my home for the last almost five years. I’m by no means going to miss it, but this little box does hold some good memories, one of them being Lena. Running my hand along her old bunk, I sigh wistfully, refusing to let the emotional deluge bubbling just beneath the surface take over. It’s hard, though, ‘cause I’ll never get to see her again. They moved her to a different block after a two-week stay in Seg following our fight, and I haven’t seen much of her since, except for a few times in Chow Hall in which she wouldn’t even look at me. I’ve had several kites sent out to her with some of
